Each year, millions of people around the world are sickened by bacterial food poisoning. This is largely due to the consumer being unaware that he is consuming a food tainted with harmful bacteria. Rampant food poisoning from harmful bacteria is widespread and is occurring with alarming frequency. Bacteria such as Salmonella, Escherichia coli (also known as E. coli), as well as the larger genus bacteria Campylobacter, which includes E. Coli, are appearing in foods and making people sick around the world. The sickness manifests as gastrointestinal flu, septicemia, and even death in some cases from a severe bacterial infection.
Sell by dates and expirations dates are two commonly used systems to indicate food freshness. But both are inadequate in today's world where products are shipped all over the world by trains, trucks, ships, and planes.
It is generally known that changes in temperatures can harm perishable foods, especially meat products. These temperature changes can result in sickness, and sometimes death caused by the bacterial growth that occurs during these fluctuations in temperature. But merely detecting changes in temperature is insufficient to guarantee detection of food spoilage.
Accordingly, what is needed is an improved smart sticker that can be applied directly to raw meat of all types and is safe for use at every point in the chain of food commerce.